“Saturday afternoon and Sunday,” answered Mr. Trevor. “That’s why I want to tell you boys about it.”
“An’ did this Mr. What’s-his-name make all the Boy Scouts?” inquired Duke Easton.
“General Baden-Powell is a famous English soldier,” answered Mr. Trevor with spirit. “And he loves his country so much that he wants all English boys to grow up to be patriotic and brave Englishmen,” he went on. “It’s not because he expects all Boy Scouts to become soldiers,” explained the host, “but many English Boy Scouts will. And those that do will have eyes and ears and hands to work with. Let me tell you why General Baden-Powell thinks everyone should know how to see things and know what they mean. It is an anecdote told me by General Baden-Powell himself.
“General Baden-Powell,” went on Mr. Trevor as the boys drew their chairs closer, “is, as I said, a great soldier. He has achieved honors of all kinds. And he became famous because, wherever England sent him—to Afghanistan, India, Egypt or Lower Africa—he saw things and figured out what they meant. And,” explained the story teller with a smile, “he saw things with his own eyes because he loved nature and was a hunter. When he came to America, old-time scouts were his friends. He knew Buffalo Bill, and with him shot elk and mountain sheep in the west. Then a time came when he was sent to Central Africa to put down the savage Matabeles. Then this thing happened:
“General Baden-Powell’s troops had been chasing the savages through an unknown region where, among the hills, the natives easily concealed themselves. The soldiers did their best to locate a certain band of Matabeles but without success. Before daybreak one morning Baden-Powell set out alone to see what he could find. Riding back and forth over the pathless veldt, or grassy plain, he at last crossed a new trail.
“This was indicated only by the fact that in places the grass had been bent aside. He finally found six distinct broken places showing that six persons had passed that way. The direction was indicated by the leaning grass. The travelers had passed that night because the disturbed grass had not yet righted itself as it would when the sun dried the dew.
“Hastening forward on this trail the observing soldier soon came to an open sandy place where he saw footsteps. The prints were those of women. He knew this by their size and the distance between them. He searched carefully for more signs—not only in the open place but round about it. He was rewarded. To the right he discovered a few leaves. There were no trees in that region. The leaves had been carried there. They were yet green. They had an odor. The scout recognized this as the odor of a native beer. Things began to clear.
“The trained observer remembered a settlement miles away where this beer was made. Among its ingredients were leaves such as he had found near the trail. But what was the significance of this? The beer spoiled easily. It had to be protected. The top of each big native bottle was usually stopped with a bunch of these leaves. But why were the leaves by the trail? Again the scout recalled a previously noted fact. The air was calm then but at four o’clock that morning there had been a stiff breeze. What was General Baden-Powell’s conclusion?
“At four o’clock that morning, six native women coming from the distant settlement had passed the sandy spot, carrying bottles of native beer stopped with leaves. He readily understood that they were taking the beer to the men in the hills. These hills were about two hours distant on foot. The women must have reached the hiding place about six o’clock. As the beer spoiled easily in the hot country it would be drunk at once. It was then seven o’clock. The Matabeles were at that moment probably far gone in intoxication.
“Hastening to his camp General Baden-Powell put his troop in motion, took the trail at once and before nine o’clock each conclusion had been proved correct. The enemy was discovered and overpowered and all because one man could see things and remember them.”